Diamond D “Best Kept Secret” (1992)

Diamond D: “I started off as a DJ and producer for the group Ultimate Force. Me and Master Rob, and not the same Master Rob from Fantastic Five, just to clear the air on that note. ‘Best Kept Secret’ was recorded near the end of the Ultimate Force album. I had some extra studio time up at Jazzy Jay’s studio, and I was just fuckin’ around and I knocked it out. Being around Lord Finesse and Grand Puba a lot back then, becoming an MC just kind of rubbed off on me. I was already writing to myself, but I never pursued it up until this point.

I’m a Knicks fan, and the director [of the video] said he had a way to get in contact with Anthony Mason. And I told him if he could make it happen, that would be a beautiful thing. Low and behold, Anthony Mason shows up.

“Grand Puba used that sample before me on MC Lyte’s album, on the song ‘I Am the Lyte.’ It wasn’t a single, so I said, ‘Ok, I’m gonna flip it.’ You know, beef it up a little more. It was supposed to be a bonus track on the Ultimate Force album. But the Ultimate Force album never really came out. We had an offer from Capitol Records. And for one reason or another, it just didn’t work out.

“I guess from me just bouncing around and being with other people, I eventually wound up producing a dude from my neighborhood named Joe Control. He had what you would call a ‘demo deal’ back then. If the label believed in you enough, they’d give you some money to go into the studio. I rhymed on one of his tracks, and they asked him to bring me down there, and I thought they wanted to talk to me because I was doing his beats and they wanted to talk about my fee.

“Then, when I get down there, the A & R pulls me aside, and he asked me if I had any more songs that I was rhyming on. I said, ‘Yeah, I got one more.’ And that was ‘Best Kept Secret.’ When I brought that in, that led to the deal with Chemistry Records and the first album.

“I’m a Knicks fan, and the director [of the video] said he had a way to get in contact with Anthony Mason. I told him if he could make it happen, that would be a beautiful thing. Low and behold, Anthony Mason shows up. That was love right there.”